The Spokesman-Review

Hatchet attack suspect ordered held

A man arrested for attacking woman Sunday morning with a hatchet is also accused of dragging the woman down the street, forcing her into a garage and demanding sex from her before stealing her purse.

Greggory L. Pruett, 31, appeared today in Spokane County Superior Court on the charges of first-degree assault, robbery and kidnapping. Superior Court Judge James Triplet ordered Pruett held on a $100,000 bond and set his arraignment for Jan. 8.

The female victim told Spokane Police that she was walking down the alley behind 2002 East 1st Ave. when she was approached by a man who asked to have sex.

“She told the male no and he hit her in the head with a hatchet,” Detective Jan Pogachar wrote in court records. “She fell to the ground and the male began to drag her down the alley and dragged her into a garage. The male hit her in the head several more times with the hatchet as she screamed.”

The woman said her assailant told her he would kill her if she didn’t shut up. At one point during the attack, in which the woman suffered serious but non-life threatening wounds to her head and face from nine to 10 hatchet strikes, the woman said she asked her assailant why he was doing this. He replied: “Because you said no,” court records state.

After pulling down the woman’s pants, the assailant stopped, grabbed her purse and fled. Police arrived and found the woman bleeding from the left side of her head, she was missing several teeth and could barely move her arms. The first responding officer found two sets of shoe prints, a pool of blood and drag marks.

The second set of footprints led to 1805 E. 1st Ave. where a witness said a man known as “Reptile” had been there drinking and that he lived at 1920 E. 1st Ave. The officer then went to that address and found Pruett. His roommate consented to a search that found a pair of shoes that matched the pattern left at the crime scene and a bomber jacket described by the victim.

The officers also found a hatchet an ax and the woman’s purse hidden under a blanket.

During an interview with police, Pruett blamed the crime on another man. When contacted by police, the second man said he had been at a Spokane Valley home with his girlfriend and Pruett’s wife and that he had not left the home until he was contacted by police.